As I wrote at New Year, the fear or suspicion of jihad attacks, even when they do not actually occur, imposes a significant cost on European life. This cost is usually not measurable. But data recently published in France does point to the existence of the phenomenon.

The attacks that struck France in January 2015 [Charlie Hebdo attacks] caused an increase of almost 75% of hospitalisations due to cardiac problems in Toulouse, a study from the Pasteur de la Ville rose clinic indicated on Saturday.

During the three days of the Paris attacks, on the 7th, 8th and 9th January 2015, the number of patients hospitalised at the Centre for Chest Pain in the Pasteur Clinic has increased by almost 75% compared to the three equivalent days in 2014, indicates a study carried out under the leadership of Professor Atul Pathak, who works at the clinic.

This is almost certainly an effect of stress. It has already been shown (see here) that the stress effects of noise account for around 3% of all heart attacks in Europe, amounting to thousands of deaths each year. We need more serious studies into the effects of Jihad stress. It may seem ludicrous, but the likelihood is that more people are dying through jihad-related stress effects than are dying in the actual attacks themselves.